Friday, January 23, 2015

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Ten Kings), Scarkazm Concert Previews, And The Return Of The Swampstravaganza!!

Our second post of the day is half devoted to Sault Michigan-area concerts (including LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the next few months and the last of this weekend's own concert previews), and half devoted to the return of an annual Sault Ontario concert event! Here's what you should know, and check out this weekend's Sault Ontario hard rock concert previews in the post below this one!

New Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Ten Kings will make their live concert debuts on Friday, February 27th & Saturday, February 28th at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino, which they'll follow with their debuts at St. Ignace's Kewadin Casino at The Northern Pines Lounge on March 13th & 14th! Though not yet acknowledged on Kewadin's own entertainment page, the February gigs replace ones originally scheduled for local classic rockers Ricochet (who've since removed them from their Facebook page), and the March gigs originally belonged to local indie rockers The London Gentlemen, who haven't acknowledged them that I've seen. Remember, Ten Kings are the new band from Nixxon Dixxon alum Brandon Carr, Bottom Line bandmates Joe Jenkins & Will Storey, and Scofflaw alum Barney Gravelle, which is a very promising lineup!

There's no cover charges for these 21+ concerts, and all have likely 9:00 PM start times. For more details, visit the official Facebook event pages at the links here & here! It's great to see Ten Kings get some shows booked, and hopefully they can hit Nixxon Dixxon & Scofflaw-esque heights in the E.U.P.! Stay tuned for more from them as it comes in!

Next up, here's our last known hard rock concert previews for this weekend, as Traverse City metal trio Scarkazm will hit the Eastern Upper Peninsula for the first time in 2015 for shows TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT at the aforementioned Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino! Some of you may have seen members Adam Crawford & Jeff Hudson earlier this month with Peril, but these will be Scarkazm's first St. Ignace stops since April, so if you've missed their hard hitting originals and covers in the past so many months, don't miss out on their St. Ignace returns this weekend! As usual for Scarkazm shows in our neck of the woods, there are 9:00 PM start times in effect, 21+ age limits, and no announced cover charges. For more details, visit the above links, don't miss Scarkazm's 2015 E.U.P. debut TONIGHT & TOMORROW, and here's Scarkazm covering Alice In Chains!

Finally, here's some exciting news, as there will indeed be a 5th annual Sewer Swampstravaganza this year, but there are changes afoot too! As revealed on the Facebook event page, the annual Steve Mozarowski-promoted all ages concert (which traditionally has at least 9 different acts) will be held during the same timeframe as last year, placing it on Saturday, May 9th rather than moving to a different month like it had in the past. That's helpful for establishing it as an annual event, and hopefully people remember that date! As well, the event page suggests that the location is to be announced, which suggests that this year's Swampfest may not be at The Oddfellows Hall, which hosted the first 4 installments. This could be exciting if a different quality venue is booked, but it would be odd to see a Swampstravaganza held somewhere else. We'll keep you guys posted when more is announced! No bands have been officially confirmed yet either, but who might we see?

Event page posts by band members suggest that 2014 performers The Bear Hunters (the only band that played each of the first 4 Swampfests), Haggith, Mike Haggith solo, The Revolution, and DJ Seith are all interested in playing again, as is rapper Mikey Thomas (who would be playing for the first time if added), so fans of last year's show should like the early interest! For reference, last year's other local performers included Sykotyk Rampage, Rotopsy, ex-RedD Monkey cellist Pete Mozarowski, Rihkee Strap from Ye Olde Mold Pickers, This Is Your Band On Drugs, and an open mic performer block (no word on if that will return), while The Northern Tragedy, James Watterworth, Guy Smith, Conika, and The North Shore are active artists that played in 2012 or 2013. As well, this event is not opposed to out of town bands, as seen by 2013 headliners Warsenal and last year's set from Aggressive Acoustic, so I wouldn't be overly shocked if we see an out of town band once again come May 9th.

It's great to see Steve (alongside Sykotyk Rampage guitarist Dirk Becker once again) bring the Swampstravaganza back for a fifth year, and I'm very curious to see who all is signed on to play this year! If the last 4 years are any indication, there will be bands wall to wall from afternoon until well into the night, so stay tuned for updates on the lineup, admission charges, and more as everything comes in! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes this weekend! Thanks everyone!